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Any of the interesting technology that came out of the launch of Google's real-time conversation tool Buzz last year was overshadowed by privacy concerns about the service. These stemmed from the way in which the product was rolled out, namely that users were not given the option to join, and many found their private information was inadvertently exposed in the process.

This led to a number of lawsuits, as well as a Federal Trade Commission investigation over what were called "deceptive privacy practices" surrounding the way in which Buzz was implemented.

The FTC and Google have finally reached a settlement, both parties have just announced.

Although TweetDeck is saying it's "been a crazy couple months," the wait is finally over and today the company is taking TweetDeck for Android out of beta and releasing it into the Android Market.

TweetDeck for Android will handle more than Twitter, bringing the ability to post and receive updates from Facebook, Buzz and Foursquare as well.

Multi-column, multi-platform social network client TweetDeck has issued an update that fixes a few bugs and adds "some small, but important, new features". We're talking support for Twitter's t.co URL shortener, uploading pics to Posterous and even sending out tweets that are longer than the 140 character limit.

The update is just for the standard desktop client, not the "super-swanky User Streams Preview version", but TweetDeck promises an upgrade for that is also on the way soon.

The API team over at Google Buzz have been buzzing to say the least. If you recall the long lost Twitter feature known as Track whose disappearance spawned numerous impassioned pleased for return you'll appreciate the latest from Google Buzz.

Last week the Google Buzz API team updated their blog to announce the general availability for Track as well detailed error messages. This means that you can get started with Track right now in Google Reader.

Miio is a new microblogging service which is a bit like a mashup between Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook and an RSS reader. Now typically, we don't like describing services as a "it's like a this plus a that," but Miio is precisely the kind of service that needs a little help in the "what this is" department.

Don't get us wrong, the concept itself isn't bad: a discussion board built around interests as opposed to popularity. It's just that the execution makes the service seem a little confusing.

So what is miio? That's what we're trying to figure out today.

Google Buzz just got a new feature that is very similar to Twitter's retweet functionality. Over the course of the day, Google will roll out a Reshare button for Buzz, which will allow you to easily share interesting posts you find on Buzz with your followers there. These posts can be shared both publicly and privately. According to Google, this was one of the top user requests for Buzz. It is also a good example of the incremental updates the Buzz team has made over the last three months.

When Google announced the launch of the new Buzz API yesterday at the Google I/O developers conference, I spotted an application in their partner lineup which hadn't yet crossed my radar: Vinehub. After having initially spotted their logo in the Google blog post containing details regarding the official announcement, I clicked through to the Buzz Featured Apps page to check it out. But here, the service was nowhere to be found.

A visit to Vineub.com satisfied my curiosity, though. It appears that Vinehub is a new social network aggregation application, in the same line as FriendFeed or even Buzz itself, except with one major difference: it doesn't just pull in updates for liking and commenting, it sends them out too.

Popular cross-platform social app TweetDeck is announcing an update to its desktop client this morning which will add Foursquare and Google Buzz to its arsenal of supported streams which already includes Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook. In addition, the version 0.34 update will allow for the addition of any Twitter-compatible APIs, including WordPress, StatusNet and Tumblr, as well as a slew of other features such as global filters and scheduled posts. The company will also announce financial news this morning, confirming that it has raised an undisclosed amount of Series B funding.

When Google Buzz launched back in February of this year, it was initially met with intrigue which soon turned to concern as users became wary of the privacy concerns of mixing their email contacts with their social stream. Today at Google I/O, the Big G is hoping to take Buzz to the next level by introducing an application programming interface (API) which will allow third-party app developers to build native Buzz apps or integrate it with existing services.

I just spent the last two days at Northern Voice. And you know one of the best things about being at a conference that's focused on social media as a personal activity instead of as a marketing function? The lack of buzz words.

Granted, I use them as much as anyone else - including the one in this cartoon. But man, it's nice to speak English again... even if it's just for a while.